DOJ seeks volunteers to review Epstein files during Christmas week as redaction deadline nears

WASHINGTON, DC: An internal email reveals that the Justice Department is still struggling to find volunteer attorneys to handle document review and redactions for the Epstein files during the holiday season, according to CNN.

This highlights how much material still needs to be processed before the agency meets its legal deadline.

The Justice Department’s leadership has requested that career prosecutors in Florida volunteer in the coming days to help edit the Epstein files.

DOJ seeks emergency help as deadline looms for Epstein files release

A supervising prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida’s US Attorney’s Office emailed the entire district office on Tuesday, two days before Christmas. “Emergency request from the [Deputy Attorney General’s] office the SDFL must assist with,” according to a copy of the email reviewed by CNN.

“We need AUSAs to do remote document review and redactions related to the Epstein files,” the email said. 

Critics from both sides have labeled the release as “incomplete” and “confusing.”

They argue that the heavily redacted pages do not fulfill the purpose of the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress. The Justice Department acknowledged that it had not finished redacting many of the files by Friday,Dec 19, and has continued releasing documents this week. 

DOJ asks attorneys to volunteer over Christmas

The request, made during Christmas week by a prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office, sought to encourage volunteer attorneys to work on files now in exchange for days off later. This call for volunteers may frustrate already overburdened Justice Department employees.

Over the past year, the department has experienced numerous departures and firings tied to actions by Trump administration leaders.

Additionally, several incidents in court have damaged the department’s reputation within the legal community.

The Justice Department used hundreds of lawyers at its headquarters, particularly national security specialists, to process the files over the past month, and the Tuesday request appears aimed at adding more attorneys to the project.

The department also failed to meet its deadline, releasing only a portion of the files on Friday, Dec 19, many of which were already in the public domain.

The department recently released nearly 30,000 additional records. These included many new documents, such as a prosecutor’s email that mentioned Trump’s name on flight logs related to the criminal investigation of Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

“We have an obligation to the public to release these documents, and before we can do so, certain redactions must be made to protect the identity of the victims, among other things,” the Southern District of Florida leadership wrote in the email requesting volunteers for the Epstein redactions.